


The story of Five Lions

by sheewo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fantasy world setting, Keith raised by his momma, Knight AU, Knights academy, M/M, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 07:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16035575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheewo/pseuds/sheewo
Summary: Keith grew up in a knights academy and has to face some difficulties such as a childish feud with a particular jerk, mom's expectations, a special mission and falling in love for the first time.





	The story of Five Lions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! I'm glad you have clicked on that title and now are going to read my silly story. Hope you enjoy it, and please, if you see a mistake, let me know and I'll try to fix it! Thank you.

They say it’s hard to look at the lips you can’t kiss, to witness a smile that doesn’t shine for you and still, all those people couldn’t even imagine how difficult it was for Keith to stare at the face that he couldn’t hit at least one more time. The eyes right in front of his own were focused on him and patiently waited for the slightest sign of defeat. Strangely, it seemed that the tension flowing around was the only thing holding back the anger burning inside Keith’s chest, and if somebody managed to open a window and let a draft of fresh air inside the room, there would be some troubles with putting out the fire. None of them let out a noise, though it wasn’t that necessary. The young people knew exactly what the other was thinking. Or maybe they just thought they knew it. Nevertheless, there was one thing Keith was sure about – he definitely wouldn’t stand a sight of enjoyment hiding in the corners of the other man’s eyes. Keith felt that he couldn’t lose that time.

  
“And how long does it take a gentleman to apologise?” The strict voice of the academy director finally broke the silence. You could say he was tired of the childish fights, though as a director, he had to pay attention to each incident happening within the walls of the academy. The lack of reaction to his words and the cup of richly smelling black tea waiting for him on the desk among piles of papers full of important tasks, not to mention an opened envelope bringing in another problem to solve, made the director want to speed up the unpleasant conversation. Letting out a tired sigh, he continued, “Kogane.”

  
As always, the sight of the widening grin annoyed Keith to the core, though, the glance the director almost immediately threw at his opponent did make him feel a little better. At least, that time the young man wasn’t going down completely alone.

  
“For some reason, it is the third time this month when I find you standing in my office. And today, young man is only February the 13th.” The director ignored a quiet snort coming from the other man - it definitely wasn’t the last lecture for today. “Trust me, it _is_ a pleasure to take short breaks from all the paperwork sometimes, but seeing how you waste the opportunity our academy generously gives to you is hardly a better replacement. Your teachers, Keith, seem to be impressed with your abilities, so to me, it only makes a great mystery – how does a student with your potential manage to end up here so often?” The man sat still for a while as if trying to make up his mind, he threw a short glance at the letter before him, then looked at the boy beside Keith who was proudly radiating satisfaction with all his being, and then continued in a sympathetic voice, “I am sorry to say it but this is the last time I let the situation go with the work in a stable as a detention. If something like that happens again, I’ll have to think about your dismissal.” Looking in the shocked face of the student didn’t make it easier to continue. Even though the academy administration passed over to him almost fifteen years ago now, it still was a challenging thing to stay responsible in times like that. He often wished his father would’ve left an ability to withstand those unpleasant feelings as well. But still, someone had to do that job, “In our academy, there is no place for people who cannot control their emotions. However outstanding your results might be, we here try to make not just good warriors, but most importantly, good people. I really hope you will consider my words, Keith, it would be a shame to lose such a hardworking student after all.” The last words sounded slightly cliché but the man knew - there wasn’t much else he could’ve said to comfort the boy anyway. “You can go now.”

  
When the door making a short creak shut behind Keith, the director, letting out another sight, leaned on his hand and looked at the other student who seemed to be very glad with the outcome. He finally took the cup of tea in his hands, though it wasn’t promising to make the day better anymore. Carefully moving his thumbs on the edges of the warm porcelain cup, the man thought. His thoughts led him to the good old days he spent at the academy still being one of the vigorous and blooming young men himself. He thought of the little fights, of detentions, he thought of his father – a former head of the academy who was always very unhappy learning that his son got into some kind of trouble again. Sinking in the waves of people he hadn’t seen for years, of little adventures and pranks he and his cheerful friends pulled off who knows how long ago, the man didn’t notice how the lovely picture of his flooded with light youth was darkened by one more memory. He suddenly remembered the day when he got a letter bringing in the news about his father’s death. On that extremely lonely autumn day, the academy came in his possession. Meanwhile, the left student loosely made his way to an old mirror obediently hanging on the wall. He touched up his clothes and dishevelled hair and with the same confidence took a place on a sofa beside the desk. The boy didn’t seem to mind the prolonged silence at all – he knew that the only thing he could do right now was to wait peacefully. Quickly locating a book he left there during his last visit to the office, the student fidgeted a bit to make himself comfortable on the sofa and continued reading. The melody of rustling pages, quiet slurps and the rare sound of somebody’s footsteps behind the door perfectly accompanied their calm presence. Some time had passed when the man finally spoke, the sound of his voice, as well as the words that he said, were not something the student had expected.  
“Lotor.” The director paused, narrowing his eyebrows and blankly staring at the bottom of the empty cup. “Son. I think it’s time for you to know something.”

 

The director’s office occupied a separate from the rest of the academy building. He lived on the first floor while all the space needed for his work took the ground one. The garden you witnessed on your way in and out the doors was surrounded by high stone walls and still, the entire place rather soaked with calmness than intimidation. Unluckily, Keith rarely had a possibility to truly appreciate the view since the reasons compelling him to go there hardly ever left him in a good spirit. And now, he again was leaving a trail of footsteps on a freshly fallen snow, trying to get away from all the annoyance, though, still bearing it inside. Getting closer to the gates, Keith unconsciously threw a quick glance toward one of the windows. Obviously, a smiling face of the long-haired jerk reflecting in the mirror didn’t help him to calm down the nerves. Perplexed by the new problems, Keith didn’t think of where exactly he was going to but, as it always happens in the moments of great stress, his legs already planned a route to the safest location they remembered. And when somebody inside the office finally decided to light the candles, the slight illumination coming from the window only touched the empty yard.

The smell in the kitchen was good. In fact, everything about this place was. Entering the doors and miraculously avoiding bumping into one of the rushing men with trays, any visitor was met by the warm embraces of the small and enchanting world. The orchestra of clattering kitchenware, dozens of different voices stuck in the stuffed air and the heat coming from the ovens cradling deliciously smelling food greeted the guest like an old friend. The kitchen workers were running back and forth checking on the meals, counting dishes and making last preparations for the upcoming dinner. Everyone seemed to be perfectly aware of their responsibilities, so when a gloomy young man suddenly showed up in the room, it didn’t take long for a person responsible for this kind of situations to appear.

  
Krolia was a well-built woman with confident movements, she wore her simple cotton dress like a battle suit, and either the lack of actual foes or maybe it was Keith's presence that still let eyes glow with softness and her touch be gentle. Quietly approaching the boy, she laid a warm hand on his shoulder, the motion seemed to return him back from his thoughts. Tiredly, he threw her a quick look and a small smile that didn't actually express anything besides sadness.

  
"So," she said, as her free hand grabbed the boy's chin and carefully turned the face to the light of fire - now she could distinguish a couple of fresh marks, "Do you want to tell me what happened here?"

  
“It’s nothing,” Keith answered, freeing his jaw from the touch of floured fingers, “Just Lotor being his annoying self again.”

  
On his entire way there, Keith had been analysing the situation over and over and, to be honest, it was an extremely pleasant feeling finally being able to express out loud what a piece of selfish idiot the guy was. Sometimes it occurred to Keith that he was the only sane person capable to see the pretentiousness flowing around Lotor’s entire being. Keith wasn’t prejudiced, moreover, he was surprised that nobody else had discovered the guy’s true nature. Thought, maybe its reason was that his father governed the place. No, it _probably_ was it. After all their fights, Keith was the one working in the stable, he never saw Lotor doing the same detention job. In addition, Lotor didn’t even live in the common rooms as the rest of the students did, his room was located on the fancy first floor of director’s fancy house. No, Keith didn’t envy, in fact, he couldn’t care less about his entire existence if only Lotor didn’t manage to mock him all the time as if it was his only hobby besides looking into the mirror for the half of eternity. Thought, from now on, Keith had no choice left but to try really hard and ignore him. After all, the boy didn’t want to-

  
“Keith.” He looked at his mother again. Her caring eyes said everything that her mouth couldn’t. Keith suddenly felt very guilty. “I know you two don’t really get along now, but” Please, mom, don’t say that. “It doesn’t worth being expelled from the academy, does it? Being graduated from its walls gives you so many opportunities. It’s a true miracle we’re able to be here.” But it’s not a miracle, mom, Keith thought, it’s you.

  
The Iverson Academy was known for decades to have extraordinary, noble people among its students. To enrol in here, you had to pay a fair amount of money and thought its present head made a lot of efforts to allow the education for a wider number of social groups, for example, providing grants to outstandingly bright young men and women, it still didn’t occur to be enough. Keith wasn’t a noble and it didn’t bother him. What _did_ bother him was the fact that it was his mother whose determination let him grow on this side of the academy walls. Keith didn’t know the whole story very well but it definitely was something that she had done. And now, he was burying the results of her hard work under the cold February snow. Maybe he was a ‘problematic student’ after all.

  
They sat like that for a while, Krolia - polite enough not to push and Keith - shaken enough not to talk. She carefully looked at the boy trying to find in his features something different from the reflection of her own worry. The flickers of close fire danced on his face touching the bangs and pupils and the fresh scratch above his cheekbone, suddenly he talked.  
“You’re right, mom” He looked at the woman gifting her another sad smile. “I need to try harder.”  
It wasn’t exactly what Krolia meant, talking about the study, but when she made an effort to convince him that, the boy gently squeezed her hand and dissolved in the same flow of kitchen workers. Krolia hoped, that it was just some fresh air he needed.

 

Keith woke up early as usual. Late evening ride might have helped him to relax a bit but it didn’t do any good to his desire to crawl out of bed the following morning. In the pre-dawn darkness, he already could distinguish the resting body of his roommate – the one and only person in his class that Keith could bear talking to. Hank was one of those hardworking people who managed to get a grant for further study. He was smart, even brilliant. But what made Keith like him even more was the fact that he always was sincere and kind and even with all his intelligence, not afraid to look ridiculous. His entire family worked in the kitchen side by side with Keith's mom, so it was only a matter of time when they would finally get along. Apart from two of them, there still were people at the academy not carrying an aristocratic surname, though the only few remained who didn’t strive to blend into the group of nobles. And Hank, of course, didn’t. So when yesterday evening Keith showed up covered in wet snow from head to toe, it didn’t take long for his roommate to bring in some deliciously smelling herbal tea and to share his blanket. Hank didn’t ask a lot, instead, he kept on babbling something and slurping tea, and to be sincere, it was exactly what Keith needed. The sight of the empty cup placed on his bedside table made Keith smile and gave him enough courage to finally lower his feet on a cold wooden floor.

Keith had already done a part of detention job previous evening, so this morning he seemed to deal with the rest of it much quicker than usual. Now the only task left was to come to the director’s office and to notify him that the job was finished. As he went there, everything around was gradually coming to motion, the world started waking up. The first candle lights flickered in the windows of early birds, though, nature itself was yet tranquil. The sudden dank wind causing Keith to shudder recalled a memory of yesterday evening. Riding a beautiful, high-spirited horse in a quiet field, feeling the chilly air flow through your hair, crawling inside your clothes and nobody else around, no rules, no formalities, no misunderstandings, no-

“Lotor?”

The suspicious figure hardly resembling a person in the dim morning light started to move. Leaning on the closed door of the director’s house It rustled, mumbled something, but more than that – it confused.

“What are you doing here?”

Slowly, something resembling a head appeared from the pile of shadows. The untidy hair covered with hoarfrost, red cheeks and nose and the wide, _scared_ eyes. He didn’t know the answer to the question either. The figure spoke.

“I…uh…”  
The man looked so lost and the morning was so calm and, for a second, Keith thought that maybe their feud was so dull and stupid after all. Slowly, he reached out a hand. And immediately regretted it. Lotor jumped from his place, still leaning on the door, now the first rays of morning sun lighted his head, and his eyes, suddenly, seemed furious. He whispered something, no, he _hissed_ something, just one short sentence, Keith didn’t hear it very well, but he for sure felt its impact. And the next thing he felt was how tightly he gripped a sword handle, then, straight away, he heard a clash above.

The fight was so unexpected, Keith didn’t have enough time to think of morality, he couldn’t think about the academy, about his mom, and still, something unconscious kept on reminding him that they really crossed the line that time. And there was something off with Lotor as well. They had never fought on the swords before that, not only because it was forbidden, but because they considered themselves people who understand the difference between their disagreements and the real desire to hurt somebody. But not that time. That time it was intense, that time they kept on falling in the freezing white blanket, that time Keith didn’t strive to win, he tried _not to lose_ because now it meant something more. Neither of them knew how much time passed since the fight had started, they were tired, the dawn light blinded them, their feet buried in cold snow begged for mercy, and only their blood still was pumping in the ears. And finally, in the corner of his eye, Keith noticed some moving shapes, jumping and growing gradually. He heard shouting, heard hurriedly approaching footsteps, then felt somebody touching his shoulder, a hand enfolding his waist and gripping tightly on his clothes. Keith didn’t know whose arms it was, though he didn’t care as well. Everything around seemed to stop. He let out a sigh of relief — the fight was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Lotor. Son. I think it's time for you to know something......you're EVIL (´• ω •`)"
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading I really appreciate it!


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